Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / This dissertation creates a Jewish theology of asceticism focused on articulating the ideals toward which Jewish observant life is directed, a method for reflecting on the ‘ends’ of a Jewish life well lived in relationship to practice. I apply this theological asceticism to an analysis of Jewish liturgical prayer (tefilat keva), arguing that it is a desire-forming practice that causes practitioners to reimagine human flourishing and what leads to true satisfaction. My approach to this topic is modeled on a careful analysis and evaluation of the Anglican theologian Sarah Coakley’s “new asceticism” in light of Charles Taylor’s “maximal demand.” I augment Coakley’s definition of asceticism to fit a Jewish theological anthropology articulated by Rabbi Israel Salanter. I then apply this ascetic discourse to the study of the daily practice of liturgy. The Jewish liturgical asceticism I develop draws together elements from the Catholic James Fagerberg’s liturgical theology, the Presbyterian theologian James K. A. Smith’s theories about how liturgy forms a social-imaginary, and R. Israel Salanter’s teachings on the formation of desire (ta’avah) through the practice of hitpa’alut. The dissertation ends with an application of this method for theologically reflecting on the desire forming power of a daily prayer life through a close reading of elements of the weekday morning service, shacharit. This dissertation offers a Jewish theological account of the formative power of liturgical prayer on human desire. It also creates an approach for thinking more broadly about desire formation as a key component in the ideal goals of a normative Jewish lifestyle. This theological project will benefit communities of practice looking to better understand the wisdom of their inherited spiritual practices, educators and communal rabbis looking to commend traditional Jewish ways of life, Jewish theologians looking for an approach to discussing the ideals within Jewish life in a way that stays rooted in practice, and scholars of Jewish liturgy who are looking for methods for studying liturgy as a formative act and not merely an historical text. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This project is called “Searching for the Grandiose” and consequently dives into this both historical and contemporary field of architecture. With a basis in architectural history, architectural theory and popular culture the project aims to understand and create grandiose architecture.  Both built and imaginary, this area of architecture has always inspired and pushed the boundaries for the possibilities of our profession. Furthermore, in the search for the grandiose also follows a possibility of the limitless – both economically, technically and mentally. In trying to design the grandiose, the architect must loosen the chains of reality and strive for the impossible and awesome. Consequently – a vast architectural fantasy is here created on an imaginary site with no restrictions in regards to size, program or economy.

La nouvelle géographie symbolique de la santé mentale en Italie, étayant une prise en charge du bien-être psychique et social de l’individu par lui-même et la communauté, pourvoit une recomposition de la relation du corps en souffrance avec le corps social. Le désir de la reliance nourrit ainsi la création esthétique de soi par l’art autobiographique de personnes ordinaires, dévoilant des sujets en souffrance confrontés avec une nouvelle présence à eux-mêmes, les autres et le monde. La triangulation et l’analyse d’un corpus autobiographique d’écritures déposées auprès de la Fondation Archive National Journal Intime (Pieve Santo Stefano, Arezzo-Italie), et le corpus d’images, textes et autobiographies, réalisées dans le cadres des activités des Ateliers de l’Imaginaire Autobiographique (Catania-Italie), soutiennent une compréhension approfondie du désir d’autobiographie. L’analyse des syntaxes sensibles et des formes de sensibilités et consciences poétiques et mythiques collectives, découvre un imaginaire nocturne synthétique et dramatique étayant des corps autobiographiques qui prennent sens et support métaphorique et symbolique. Une sociologie de l’écriture de soi questionne ainsi des formes spécifiques de textualisation de l’imaginaire symbolique et social, nous montrant une société souhaitant d’être révélée à elle-même par ses errances dans la quête mythobiographique, découvrant le sens de notre existence et de notre époque. L’objet social et culturel mythanalysé des écritures de soi en souffrance, nous questionne en dernière analyse au sujet des transformations du système symbolique et des mutations des valeurs sociales. / The new symbolic geography of mental health in Italy, which sustains the psychic and social well-being of the individual through himself and the community, also favors the restructuring of the relationship of the body in distress with the social body. The desire of reliance feeds the aesthetic self-creation, the art of autobiography practiced by ordinary people, revealing suffering persons in relation with a new presence to themselves, others and the world. The triangulation and analysis of a autobiographical corpus of writing stored at the Fondazione Nazionale Archivio Diaristico (Pieve Santo Stefano, Arezzo-Italia), and the corpus of images, texts and autobiographies, carried out during the activities of the Ateliers dell’Immaginario Autobiografico (Catania-Italia), support a deep comprehension of the desire of autobiography. The analysis of sensitive syntax, the forms of sensitiveness and of the poetical, mythic and collective consciousness, discovers a synthetic and dramatic nocturnal imagery, revealing autobiographic body which acquires meaning and metaphorical and symbolic support. Therefore a sociology of the self-writing questions the specific forms of textualization of the symbolic and social imagery, showing us a society which tries to show itself through its wanderings of autobiographic research, discovering the meaning of our existence and of our time. The social and cultural subject myth-analyzed of the self-writings in suffering questions us finally regards the transformation of the symbolic system and the changings of social values.

A partir da análise de 18 matérias veiculadas nos jornais impressos capixabas, a saber, AGazeta e A Tribuna a pesquisa buscou entender como tais jornais operam a construção do imaginário social do progresso no Espírito Santo. A partir do aporte teórico-metodológico da Análise do Discurso, a pesquisa busca encontrar nos textos os indícios que levam a uma formação discursiva, e, por conseguinte, a uma formação ideológica em que o progresso emerge como categoria fundante. Tais indícios, que tecem a trama do imaginário do progresso é o discurso, entendido como materialidade lingüística, lugar em que se articulam sujeito, língua e história. A premissa inicial é a de que o progresso, ainda que não apareça nos jornais como um enunciado concreto, constitui-se enquanto idéia e funda-se como vontade, ganhando assim aderência social. Logo, se por um lado, o progresso aparece como discurso forjado por determinados grupos, por outro, encontra aderência nessa vontade, constituindo-se enquanto imaginário coletivamente apropriado. O imaginário social seria, por seu turno, essa espécie de imagem que a sociedade cria de si. Uma forma de um grupo, uma comunidade, uma sociedade se enxergar; a base na qual cada sociedade elabora a imagem de si mesma e do universo em que vive. Enquanto uma imagem atua, portanto, como uma espécie de representação da realidade. É o espelho no qual se estrutura essa sociedade. Mas esse espelho, no entanto, não funciona com uma imagem refletida e sim com uma representação dessa realidade. A pesquisa conta com uma articulação teórica com o campo da história e também das ciências sociais, em especial, a sociologia das práticas sociais, sendo o conceito de habitus jornalístico um dos aportes teóricos da pesquisa. Articular a discussão acerca do habitus jornalístico, discutir como o jornalismo cria, a partir de sua prática e seu modo de operação, um lugar para si mesmo lugar de quem fala , é também um dos objetivos desta pesquisa. Para isso queremos entender como o jornalismo, ao mesmo tempo em que opera discursos outros, opera o discurso sobre si mesmo, construindo-se como lugar de legitimidade. Para as análises, fora realizada a constituição de um corpus selecionado de forma aleatória das edições do jornal, chegando a um total de 96 edições (48 de cada jornal) distribuídas entre os anos de 2003 e 2006. O período foi escolhido por ser tratar de momento ímpar em relação ao discurso do progresso no estado do Espírito Santo, em parte, pelas mudanças que ocorriam no cenário local, em parte, pelas mudanças que ocorriam no cenário nacional. As matérias ou colunas fazem parte dos cadernos de Economia de ambos os jornais. / From the analysis of 18 articles published in capixaba´s printed newspapers, wich are A Gazeta and A Tribuna, the research intended to understand how these newspapers operate the building of social imaginary of progress in Espírito Santo. With the theoretical and methodological stand of Discourse Analysis, it was possible to find in these texts the evidences that lead to a discursive formation and, consequently, to a ideological formation where progress emerges as a regnant category. These evidences, that weave the plot of progress, are contained in discourse as a linguistic materiality, place where subject, language and history are articulated. The results point that progress, even when does not appear in newspapers as a correct enunciation, constitutes itself as idea and is founded as will, thus gaining social adherence. On this way, if progress appears as a discourse forged by certain groups, on the other hand it finds adherence to this will, constituting an imaginary collectively taken. The social imaginary would be, on its turn, this kind of image that society creates of itself. A formation of a group, a community, a society way of seeing itself; the base on wich each society elaborates an image of itself and the universe where she lives. As an image it acts, therefore, as a kind of reality´s representation. It is the mirror where this society is structured. But this mirror, however, does not work reflecting an image, considering that is also refracts it. The research has a theoretical articulation with history´s extent and also with social sciences, especially sociology of social practices, since the concept of habitus as one of the contributions to this research. Articulating the argument about the journalistic, discussing how journalism creates, from its practice and its operation way, a place for itself - a place that talks was also one of this work´s objectives. To achieve that, the research intended to understand how journalism, at the same time that operates discourses about others, also operates a discourse about itself, constructing its place as a place of legitimacy. To the analysis, was made a constitution of a montage about a sampling selected in a random way over the newspaper editions, in a total of 96 editions (48 of each newspaper) distributed between the years of 2003 and 2006, in wich 18 constitutes the amount of the research. This period was chosen because it shows a special moment related to the discourse of progress in Espírito Santo´s state, somehow, by the changes that occurried in local scene, and also because of the changes in national stage. The articles or columns are part of Economical´s sections in both newspapers.

Animês e mangás: o mito vivo e vivido no imaginário infantil é uma análise hermenêutico-figurativa do mangá Naruto. O trabalho procura lançar questões sobre a importância da figura do herói do mangá shonen nos processos iniciáticos de crianças e adolescentes estudantes da rede pública paulistana. Para tanto, apoia-se, sobretudo, na teoria do imaginário de Gilbert Durand e da jornada do herói de Joseph Campbell. A pesquisa que teve como corpus de análise a primeira temporada do mangá Naruto e o animê de mesmo título, as produções imagéticas dos estudantes e as diferentes versões de narrativas tradicionais japonesas extraídas de sites otakus e de livros infanto-juvenis sustenta a ideia de que mangás são derivações, por empobrecimento, de mitos japoneses, que enformam as produções imagéticas dos apreciadores desse gênero literário. Com efeito, e por meio do método de convergência simbólica, a análise destaca o simbolismo ambíguo das figuras da raposa e dos meninos-heróis, recorrentes nas narrativas tradicionais e na iconografia japonesa. Importante ressalva é indicar não se tratar de uma abordagem comparativa entre a cultura japonesa e as culturas ocidentais que convivem com este gênero literário. A conclusão a que se chega ao final deste estudo é que o mangá Naruto constitui uma literatura iniciática que presentifica o arquétipo do herói no imaginário infantil e apresenta valor heurístico para pensarmos a construção de uma pedagogia do psiquismo imaginante proposta por Bruno Duborgel, assim como a dinâmica do imaginário de nossa própria época. / Animes and mangas: the living and lived myth in childhood imagination is an hermeneutic-figurative analysis of the Naruto manga, that launches questions about the importance of the shonen manga hero figure in the initiatory processes of children and adolescents students of São Paulo public schools network. For that, it relies, mainly, in the imaginary theory of Gilbert Durand and in the hero journey of Joseph Campbell. The research which had as its analysis corpus the first season of Naruto manga and the anime with the same title, the imagistic productions of students and the different versions of traditional Japanese narratives extracted from otakus sites and books for children and teenagers supports the idea that mangas are derivations by impoverishment of Japanese myths that shape the imagistic productions of enthusiasts of this literary genre. In effect, and by means of the symbolic convergence method, the analysis highlights the ambiguous symbolism of the fox and boy-heroes figures, recurrent in traditional narratives and in the Japanese iconography, although it is not to be confused with an eminently comparative approach between the Japanese culture and occidental cultures that coexist with this literary genre. The conclusion reached at the end of this study is that the Naruto manga constitutes an initiatory literature that makes present the hero archetype in the childhood imagination and that has an heuristic value to make us think about the construction of a pedagogy of imaginative psyche proposed by Bruno Duborgel, as well as the dynamics of our own epochs imaginary.

Submitted by Sergio Rykio Kussuda (sergiokussuda@gmail.com) on 2018-03-08T20:53:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Kussuda_Versão_PosDefesa.pdf: 4844258 bytes, checksum: e6b197180068674860cd4927040e72d1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Marlene Zaniboni null (zaniboni@bauru.unesp.br) on 2018-03-09T16:33:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 kussuda_sr_dr_bauru.pdf: 4844258 bytes, checksum: e6b197180068674860cd4927040e72d1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-09T16:33:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 kussuda_sr_dr_bauru.pdf: 4844258 bytes, checksum: e6b197180068674860cd4927040e72d1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente estudo trata de uma pesquisa empírica, que busca conhecer os principais motivos para a evasão, segundo ex-alunos e professores, de um curso de Licenciatura em Física de uma universidade pública paulista, em um determinado período estudado. Para tanto, além do apoio em referenciais sobre o tema, contamos com uma amostra de ex-alunos e outra de professores, que se dispuseram a fornecer informações sobre o evasão, através de questionários e entrevistas. Os dados foram tratados quali e quantitativamente e as entrevistas foram analisadas com aportes da Análise de Discurso. Os resultados mostram que, embora os sujeitos das duas amostras falem de posições distintas sobre o mesmo tema, a evasão, da qual os alunos são protagonistas e os docentes testemunhas, há congruências nos discursos dos sujeitos das duas amostras sobre os motivos que levam os alunos a evadirem. Tanto no imaginário de professores como de exalunos, os fatores para a evasão incluem o fato de a maioria dos ingressantes ser constituída de alunos-trabalhadores, oriundos de classes economicamente menos privilegiadas e, portanto, com defasagem de formação, já que são provenientes de escolas precárias e possuem pouco tempo para se dedicarem aos estudos; apontam também as dificuldades relacionadas ao mercado e condições de trabalho para físicos e professores da educação básica; ao uso de métodos de ensino e de avaliação inconsistentes por parte dos professores universitários, que levam a reprovação, desestímulo e consequente evasão. Segundo os professores, o imaginário sobre a Física que os alunos trazem da Educação Básica e o conflito com os estudos na Universidade são fatores que dificultam o processo de transição e adaptação para o Ensino Superior. Para os ex-alunos, as políticas precárias de permanência estudantil; a atenção seletiva de docentes à pesquisa, em detrimento do ensino; formas incoerentes de avaliação da aprendizagem e desestimulo à profissão de professor, bem como a imaturidade do estudante ao ingressar na universidade, são problemas que levam à evasão; em alguns casos, corroborando para o desinteresse, frustração e aparecimento de problemas de ordem psicológica. Alunos e docentes sugerem ações para a reversão do quadro, embora entendam que estas dependam de mudanças em políticas que ultrapassam a competência do Conselho de Curso e das instâncias acadêmicas. / The present study is an empirical research that seeks to know the main reasons for an dropout according to former students and professors of a Physics Teachers Training Course of a public university of São Paulo in a certain period of study in order to reflect about the influence of socioeconomic factors in the permanence and avoidance of the alumni of this course. Therefore, in addition to supporting references on the subject, the study used samples of former students and professors, who were willing to provide information on evasion through questionnaires and interviews. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively; The interviews were analyzed with contributions from the Discourse Analysis. The results show that, although the subjects of the two samples speak of different positions on the same subject, the evasion, in which the students are protagonists and the teachers witnesses, there are congruencies in the speeches of the subjects of the two samples, on the reasons for the evasion. In both professors' and alumni's imaginations, the factors for evasion include the fact that most of the participants are students-workers from economically less privileged classes and, therefore, with a lack of training coming from precarious public schools, with little time to devote to studies; also point out the difficulties related to the market and working conditions for physicists and teachers of basic education; to inconsistent methods of teaching and assessment by university professors, which lead to disapproval, discouragement and consequent evasion. In the professors' imagination, the imagery about physics that students bring from basic education and the conflict with university studies are factors that hinder the process of transition and adaptation to higher education. In the students' imagination, the precarious policies of student stay, selective attention of professor to research, to the detriment of teaching, incoherent forms of evaluation of learning and incentive to evasion and discouragement to the profession of teacher, as well as the student's own immaturity upon entering university, are problems that lead to avoidance; In some cases, corroborating to the disinterest, frustration and appearance of psychological problems. Students and teachers suggest actions to revert the framework, although understanding that they depend on being accompanied by changes in policies that exceed the competence of professor and academic bodies.

Animês e mangás: o mito vivo e vivido no imaginário infantil é uma análise hermenêutico-figurativa do mangá Naruto. O trabalho procura lançar questões sobre a importância da figura do herói do mangá shonen nos processos iniciáticos de crianças e adolescentes estudantes da rede pública paulistana. Para tanto, apoia-se, sobretudo, na teoria do imaginário de Gilbert Durand e da jornada do herói de Joseph Campbell. A pesquisa que teve como corpus de análise a primeira temporada do mangá Naruto e o animê de mesmo título, as produções imagéticas dos estudantes e as diferentes versões de narrativas tradicionais japonesas extraídas de sites otakus e de livros infanto-juvenis sustenta a ideia de que mangás são derivações, por empobrecimento, de mitos japoneses, que enformam as produções imagéticas dos apreciadores desse gênero literário. Com efeito, e por meio do método de convergência simbólica, a análise destaca o simbolismo ambíguo das figuras da raposa e dos meninos-heróis, recorrentes nas narrativas tradicionais e na iconografia japonesa. Importante ressalva é indicar não se tratar de uma abordagem comparativa entre a cultura japonesa e as culturas ocidentais que convivem com este gênero literário. A conclusão a que se chega ao final deste estudo é que o mangá Naruto constitui uma literatura iniciática que presentifica o arquétipo do herói no imaginário infantil e apresenta valor heurístico para pensarmos a construção de uma pedagogia do psiquismo imaginante proposta por Bruno Duborgel, assim como a dinâmica do imaginário de nossa própria época. / Animes and mangas: the living and lived myth in childhood imagination is an hermeneutic-figurative analysis of the Naruto manga, that launches questions about the importance of the shonen manga hero figure in the initiatory processes of children and adolescents students of São Paulo public schools network. For that, it relies, mainly, in the imaginary theory of Gilbert Durand and in the hero journey of Joseph Campbell. The research which had as its analysis corpus the first season of Naruto manga and the anime with the same title, the imagistic productions of students and the different versions of traditional Japanese narratives extracted from otakus sites and books for children and teenagers supports the idea that mangas are derivations by impoverishment of Japanese myths that shape the imagistic productions of enthusiasts of this literary genre. In effect, and by means of the symbolic convergence method, the analysis highlights the ambiguous symbolism of the fox and boy-heroes figures, recurrent in traditional narratives and in the Japanese iconography, although it is not to be confused with an eminently comparative approach between the Japanese culture and occidental cultures that coexist with this literary genre. The conclusion reached at the end of this study is that the Naruto manga constitutes an initiatory literature that makes present the hero archetype in the childhood imagination and that has an heuristic value to make us think about the construction of a pedagogy of imaginative psyche proposed by Bruno Duborgel, as well as the dynamics of our own epochs imaginary.

A partir da análise de 18 matérias veiculadas nos jornais impressos capixabas, a saber, AGazeta e A Tribuna a pesquisa buscou entender como tais jornais operam a construção do imaginário social do progresso no Espírito Santo. A partir do aporte teórico-metodológico da Análise do Discurso, a pesquisa busca encontrar nos textos os indícios que levam a uma formação discursiva, e, por conseguinte, a uma formação ideológica em que o progresso emerge como categoria fundante. Tais indícios, que tecem a trama do imaginário do progresso é o discurso, entendido como materialidade lingüística, lugar em que se articulam sujeito, língua e história. A premissa inicial é a de que o progresso, ainda que não apareça nos jornais como um enunciado concreto, constitui-se enquanto idéia e funda-se como vontade, ganhando assim aderência social. Logo, se por um lado, o progresso aparece como discurso forjado por determinados grupos, por outro, encontra aderência nessa vontade, constituindo-se enquanto imaginário coletivamente apropriado. O imaginário social seria, por seu turno, essa espécie de imagem que a sociedade cria de si. Uma forma de um grupo, uma comunidade, uma sociedade se enxergar; a base na qual cada sociedade elabora a imagem de si mesma e do universo em que vive. Enquanto uma imagem atua, portanto, como uma espécie de representação da realidade. É o espelho no qual se estrutura essa sociedade. Mas esse espelho, no entanto, não funciona com uma imagem refletida e sim com uma representação dessa realidade. A pesquisa conta com uma articulação teórica com o campo da história e também das ciências sociais, em especial, a sociologia das práticas sociais, sendo o conceito de habitus jornalístico um dos aportes teóricos da pesquisa. Articular a discussão acerca do habitus jornalístico, discutir como o jornalismo cria, a partir de sua prática e seu modo de operação, um lugar para si mesmo lugar de quem fala , é também um dos objetivos desta pesquisa. Para isso queremos entender como o jornalismo, ao mesmo tempo em que opera discursos outros, opera o discurso sobre si mesmo, construindo-se como lugar de legitimidade. Para as análises, fora realizada a constituição de um corpus selecionado de forma aleatória das edições do jornal, chegando a um total de 96 edições (48 de cada jornal) distribuídas entre os anos de 2003 e 2006. O período foi escolhido por ser tratar de momento ímpar em relação ao discurso do progresso no estado do Espírito Santo, em parte, pelas mudanças que ocorriam no cenário local, em parte, pelas mudanças que ocorriam no cenário nacional. As matérias ou colunas fazem parte dos cadernos de Economia de ambos os jornais. / From the analysis of 18 articles published in capixaba´s printed newspapers, wich are A Gazeta and A Tribuna, the research intended to understand how these newspapers operate the building of social imaginary of progress in Espírito Santo. With the theoretical and methodological stand of Discourse Analysis, it was possible to find in these texts the evidences that lead to a discursive formation and, consequently, to a ideological formation where progress emerges as a regnant category. These evidences, that weave the plot of progress, are contained in discourse as a linguistic materiality, place where subject, language and history are articulated. The results point that progress, even when does not appear in newspapers as a correct enunciation, constitutes itself as idea and is founded as will, thus gaining social adherence. On this way, if progress appears as a discourse forged by certain groups, on the other hand it finds adherence to this will, constituting an imaginary collectively taken. The social imaginary would be, on its turn, this kind of image that society creates of itself. A formation of a group, a community, a society way of seeing itself; the base on wich each society elaborates an image of itself and the universe where she lives. As an image it acts, therefore, as a kind of reality´s representation. It is the mirror where this society is structured. But this mirror, however, does not work reflecting an image, considering that is also refracts it. The research has a theoretical articulation with history´s extent and also with social sciences, especially sociology of social practices, since the concept of habitus as one of the contributions to this research. Articulating the argument about the journalistic, discussing how journalism creates, from its practice and its operation way, a place for itself - a place that talks was also one of this work´s objectives. To achieve that, the research intended to understand how journalism, at the same time that operates discourses about others, also operates a discourse about itself, constructing its place as a place of legitimacy. To the analysis, was made a constitution of a montage about a sampling selected in a random way over the newspaper editions, in a total of 96 editions (48 of each newspaper) distributed between the years of 2003 and 2006, in wich 18 constitutes the amount of the research. This period was chosen because it shows a special moment related to the discourse of progress in Espírito Santo´s state, somehow, by the changes that occurried in local scene, and also because of the changes in national stage. The articles or columns are part of Economical´s sections in both newspapers.

World War II women are commonly understood to have come closer to equality than any previous generation. Their mass entry into the workforce is remembered as a united front to support the troops while simultaneously claiming ground to demonstrate their abilities as workers. However, scholarship which emphasizes the collaboration between the government and advertisers to create propaganda that persuaded women to enter the workforce and thus serve as the "domestic front" of the war begins to question the prevailing notion of wartime employment as strides towards equality. This project begins with the question: why did post-war women seemingly willingly abandon these jobs and move to the suburbs? I argue the construct of the post-war housewife, which positions women as willing to abandon careers for the suburban kitchen, is a social imaginary which responds to and uses social anxieties to constrain women’s gender performance and silence gender anxieties. I use the context of the time, as well as rhetorical analysis of mediated artifacts of representations of housewife, to argue this social imaginary silences women’s post-war lived experience and replaces it in public discourse with the multimodal image of Fifties housewife. A visual rhetorical analysis of post-war advertisements which portray the housewife reveals the work of the social imaginary using social anxieties concerning gender roles as well as Cold War fears to define woman’s place. Examining the way Hollywood uses housewife as a frame for its female stars uncovers how circulated use of the imaginary of housewife perpetuates the imaginary by seeming to evidence its claims to representation. However, an analysis of televised representations of the housewife imaginary reveals the fabric of the imaginary fraying. Television humor illuminates the illusion of the imaginary of housewife’s claims to representativeness, and therefore creates a public space in which women can contest the imaginary by exposing women’s discontent with the role of housewife. I conclude with a discussion of the ways this social imaginary of housewife continues to define women’s lives in political debate seventy years after it began to define and constrain post-war women’s gender performance.

The Michael Chekhov Technique is a unique approach to acting that has been successfully used by professional actors for many years. This thesis explores finding a strong understanding of the technique as well as discovering ways to incorporate it into an undergraduate actor training program. The examination aims to further my aesthetic both as theatre teacher and practitioner. It includes training with master teachers in the technique, incorporating Chekhov exercises into undergraduate acting and movement classes and use of the technique on a production of Pride & Prejudice.